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This article
describes a means for relative block addressing
(RBA) that fits within the existing structure of an advanced
technology (AT) file interface.

The most
common method of attaching a high performance direct
access storage device (DASD) to personal computers is via an AT
interface which includes AT-IDE (Integrated Device Electronics), and
ATA (AT Attachment).

Presently,
fixed disks employing the ATA are accessed by
providing an address which directly relates the file geometry. This
severely restricts DASD manufacturers in the format they may use for
storage, and imposes a difficult accounting system for the operating
system.

A means is
provided herein for RBA fits within the existing
structure of the AT file interface.

The ATA is
based upon a device level interface. In
a true
device level interface, the controlling circuitry is located on a
separate adapter card, physically distinct from the drive.
Formatting, head selection, error detection, etc. is all done on the
adapter itself, not on the drive. All
the drive does is the actual
mechanical operation of positioning heads and reading and writing.

Because the
adapter has to issue very low level instructions to
the drive, the address generated by the host has to adhere to the way
the drive is designed. Since most fixed
disk drives have multiple
cylinders consisting of a fixed number of tracks composed of a fixed
number of sectors, this is the addressing methodology that is
employed and is the file structure used by PC operating systems.
Primarily, for reasons of software compatibility, this "cylinder,
head and sector" (CHS) address is the method adopted by the ATA.

The CHS
address map is a three dimensional structure.
This is
a difficult and time consuming technique of maintaining information.
(Matrix manipulation is well understood, but requires a lot of
mathematical processing.)

Fig. 1
depicts the logical progression of address in a typical
CHS address map. (For a device with four
heads.)

Further, DASD
manufacturers would like to employ various design
techniques to increase capacity or improve yield.

Among these are:

o Zone recording,
in which varying the number of sectors per track
takes advantage of the fact that the
recording areas are not
constant throughout the diameter of a
platter.

o Transparent
defect management, in which the device may reassign a
defect unbeknownst to...